Tell us how you became a professional filmmaker

M

MikeFunktastic

Active member
EDIT: Oops, not just professional filmmaker. It's kinda late and I wasn't really thinking. I didn't mean that you had to have produced features/shorts on IMDB etc. Just as long as you've broken into the video industry and continue to make your living in it!

I'd like to know how you guys went from barely knowing how to hit the big red button for record to getting your first legitimate gig that kicked off your career, and beyond!

For example:

-What made you want to do this for the rest of your life
-Did you jump into film directly as your first career, or did you take the scenic route?
-Where/how you started the learning process
-What you did to get your foot inside the door
-What you did to stay inside the door
-Where you see yourself in the next ten years

Whatever your original goals/dreams, whether you've "made it" according to your original plan or not, I'd love to hear from you!

Cheers,
Mike
 
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Assumes we all have careers looking through a viewfinder...........More to film-making than just cameras or "pressing the red button" you know.....
I only get to look at the shot, if I am trying to set up a particular angle. But I do consider myself integral to making the director and the film look and sound good.


We have on this site:

Actors
DP's
ARMORERS
grips
SOUND GUYS
cam ops
directors
AD's
wardrobe
SFX GUYS
VFX guys

Should I go on? Film-making is more than just a few people.......a quality film takes many disciplines to give their input and knowledge.

Just sharing a bit of my itty bitty experience here.
 
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Doc Bernard said:
Assumes we all have careers looking through a viewfinder...........More to film-making than just cameras or "pressing the red button" you know.....
I only get to look at the shot, if I am trying to set up a particular angle. But I do consider myself integral to making the director and the film look and sound good.


We have on this site:

Actors
DP's
ARMORERS
grips
SOUND GUYS
cam ops
directors
AD's
wardrobe
SFX GUYS
VFX guys

Should I go on? Film-making is more than just a few people.......a quality film takes many disciplines to give their input and knowledge.

Just sharing a bit of my itty bitty experience here.
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Don't sound guys work with "red buttons" a lot as well? :happy:

I concede it was a bad attempt at describing a newbie to the film industry. But I do mean all the:

Doc Bernard said:
Actors
DP's
ARMORERS
grips
SOUND GUYS
cam ops
directors
AD's
wardrobe
SFX GUYS
VFX guys
Click to expand...

Hope I didn't offend anyone with my semantics. It can become quite a minefield on these forums sometimes.

And Doc, I'd love to get your story as well!

Mike
 
You can read about my start in this insane industry here:

http://www.liamhall.net/2012/Biog.html

Doc Bernard said:
Assumes we all have careers looking through a viewfinder...........More to film-making than just cameras or "pressing the red button" you know.....
I only get to look at the shot, if I am trying to set up a particular angle. But I do consider myself integral to making the director and the film look and sound good.


We have on this site:

Actors
DP's
ARMORERS
grips
SOUND GUYS
cam ops
directors
AD's
wardrobe
SFX GUYS
VFX guys

Should I go on? Film-making is more than just a few people.......a quality film takes many disciplines to give their input and knowledge.

Just sharing a bit of my itty bitty experience here.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing it wasn't a helpful and polite attitude that got you started:-)
 
MikeFunktastic said:
Liam, that was an awesome story. I'm sure that type of attitude has helped you make your "luck" all these years. Did you ever get to work with David Lean at all?
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Sadly not. I was offered a 3rd assistant director's job on the film, but it never got made and I'd bagged a job in a commercials production company by that time, so I was already off and running. Literally.
 
LOL, my comments were not meant as being mean. Just a "tongue in cheek" comment.

My "story" would take up pages of text and be boring.
 
It wouldn't be boring. At least not based on those couple of sentences you recently wrote somewhere on dvxuser. (struck by lightning, war etc.). Well, not that it means much to you, but I found it very interesting. Maybe your story would be boring. I would read it anyway.

ot;

In 10 years, I see myself amm... I don't know. I started on local TV as a journalist, now I write for a TV series. It's not much of a story since I didn't get into actual film yet, but I'm getting there... slowly. :beer:
 
I am not your typical "I wanted to make movies my whole life" kind of person. In fact most of my life I was more interested in making video games. The turning point for me was freshman year of college. A few things happened. I realized I hated software programming, and couldn't see myself doing that for a long time. I got into video editing from playing a certain online game that had a huge video community with it. And perhaps most importantly, I was introduced to "great films" and fell in love with cinema as an artform. That was 5 years ago.

I considered going to film school, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the money for me. I taught myself how to edit with FC Pro, and spent a few grand on a DSLR, Audio Equipment, and basic lighting. I also began reading anything I could get my hands on; books on screenwriting, directing, cinematography, the philosophy of filmmaking, etc. I began making things with people I knew. I will say unfortunately I wasn't making things nearly often enough, but I guess it was often enough to meet some people. I finally started getting paid a little bit for documentary and advertising type videos for a local university and city schools.

Once I had a basic grasp on everything, I used a connection I had and began shooting out resumes to as many films in the area as I could. Got my first big break working as a Post Production PA on a major film, loved every minute of it.

And that's kind of where I stand right now. Most of my work is in the camera department on smaller project. It's not very good money, but it's something. I don't know if I would say my foot is all the way in the door yet, but at least I know people that are in the door, and hopefully in the very near future will come true on some promises they made and allow me to fully come in and make a living.


As for my goals, like many it's ultimately to make feature films. However i'm trying to be as reasonable about it as I can. I'm only 24 and I know for certain i'm not ready yet to make a feature. So my goal is that over the next 6 years I will make as many short films, music videos, commercials, short documentaries, and art pieces as I possibly can to really learn the craft and hopefully make enough connections that by the time i'm 30 I will be ready to make a feature both personally and financially. That's the goal, and I believe it's possible. I'm in a good area for this type of work, I know some good people already, and while I would not in any way say i'm a talented filmmaker yet, I do see potential in myself. For me, right now it's just about doing the work and putting in the effort I need to get to where I want to be.
 
i wish i could get a job as a tea boy! they dont even have tea boys anymore. maybe i can get a job as a jamba juice boy or starbucks boy!
 
Liam, you have inspired me to get off my behind. I started my blog. Thanks!

If....and only if, you want to read it........... http://docbernard.blog.com/2012/10/08/intro/ But I am not sharing this for traffic or volume. It's basically just going to be a way for me to put things down in "writing" as it were.
 
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jghenderson said:
I am not your typical "I wanted to make movies my whole life" kind of person. In fact most of my life I was more interested in making video games. The turning point for me was freshman year of college. A few things happened. I realized I hated software programming, and couldn't see myself doing that for a long time. I got into video editing from playing a certain online game that had a huge video community with it. And perhaps most importantly, I was introduced to "great films" and fell in love with cinema as an artform. That was 5 years ago.

I considered going to film school, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the money for me. I taught myself how to edit with FC Pro, and spent a few grand on a DSLR, Audio Equipment, and basic lighting. I also began reading anything I could get my hands on; books on screenwriting, directing, cinematography, the philosophy of filmmaking, etc. I began making things with people I knew. I will say unfortunately I wasn't making things nearly often enough, but I guess it was often enough to meet some people. I finally started getting paid a little bit for documentary and advertising type videos for a local university and city schools.

Once I had a basic grasp on everything, I used a connection I had and began shooting out resumes to as many films in the area as I could. Got my first big break working as a Post Production PA on a major film, loved every minute of it.

And that's kind of where I stand right now. Most of my work is in the camera department on smaller project. It's not very good money, but it's something. I don't know if I would say my foot is all the way in the door yet, but at least I know people that are in the door, and hopefully in the very near future will come true on some promises they made and allow me to fully come in and make a living.


As for my goals, like many it's ultimately to make feature films. However i'm trying to be as reasonable about it as I can. I'm only 24 and I know for certain i'm not ready yet to make a feature. So my goal is that over the next 6 years I will make as many short films, music videos, commercials, short documentaries, and art pieces as I possibly can to really learn the craft and hopefully make enough connections that by the time i'm 30 I will be ready to make a feature both personally and financially. That's the goal, and I believe it's possible. I'm in a good area for this type of work, I know some good people already, and while I would not in any way say i'm a talented filmmaker yet, I do see potential in myself. For me, right now it's just about doing the work and putting in the effort I need to get to where I want to be.
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Thanks for sharing, JG.

It is a great blessing to have discovered what you DON'T want to do at 24, IMO. Even more so now that you know what you do want.

I have always been into filmmaking, but unfortunately didn't pursue it when I was younger and simply went to business school and took up a corporate job in accounting after college. I hated it during school, but for some reason thought that it would get better when I got out because I would have money and that would make up for it. The money definitely was there, but did it make up for it? Ha! It's been 4 years since then, and I was miserable the entire time. Thankfully, I also had tennis as an outlet (used to play in college), and as I built up my tennis business I started looking into video instruction as a possibility to get back into video / film. And now here I am.

So I took the scenic route so far, I guess. I can't say it was the wrong way, as I've built a solid financial foundation to be able to invest in this expensive line of work. But I guess each of us will have to struggle to get in somehow, whether financially, intellectually, or artistically before we gain a solid footing in this business.

I'm 25 now. Like you, I don't think I will go to film school - at least not full-time. I may take classes here and there mainly to network with others. I have never considered formally structured education as being completely necessary to success. Tennis taught me this. I grew up from humble beginnings and my family was not able to afford the $20,000/year average cost of tennis lessons like many of my tennis friends could. But I took the time to study the sport on my own, and not only was I able to compete with them, I made many strong NCAA Div I teams when they couldn't. My brother, who is 15 right now, is on track to Div I tennis as well, and he is doing the same thing. Similarly, I will find ways to study the filmmaking craft and become good, maybe even great at it. Especially when film school now isn't like what it was 10, even 5 years ago - accessibility to knowledge and quality gear is as easy and cheap now as it has ever been, and the barriers to entry are too low now to make film school a completely worthwhile investment.

So my goal over the next 5 years is to quit my corporate job after I hit a certain savings goal, then have my tennis business support me until I make it in video. 5 years should be all I need, because if it takes longer than 5 years, then I'm doing something wrong. I would love to make a feature film, and will continue to develop screenplays, but it takes a certain kind of talent to be great at that. And now that I'm investing the time and money to learn other aspects of video, I think I would be just as happy in below the line work as above the line.

And with that said, best of luck to all of us life-hacking our way into this insane industry!
 
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Doc Bernard said:
Liam, you have inspired me to get off my behind. I started my blog. Thanks!

If....and only if, you want to read it........... http://docbernard.blog.com/2012/10/08/intro/ But I am not sharing this for traffic or volume. It's basically just going to be a way for me to put things down in "writing" as it were.
Click to expand...

Ha! That preview... you sure know how to dangle a yarn in front of the cat. And you said your story would be too long and boring.

oh-stop-it-you-1.png
 
ZazaCast said:
Define "Professional".... :undecided
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MikeFunktastic said:
EDIT: Oops, not just professional filmmaker. It's kinda late and I wasn't really thinking. I didn't mean that you had to have produced features/shorts on IMDB etc. Just as long as you've broken into the video industry and continue to make your living in it!

I'd like to know how you guys went from barely knowing how to hit the big red button for record to getting your first legitimate gig that kicked off your career, and beyond!

For example:

-What made you want to do this for the rest of your life
-Did you jump into film directly as your first career, or did you take the scenic route?
-Where/how you started the learning process
-What you did to get your foot inside the door
-What you did to stay inside the door
-Where you see yourself in the next ten years

Whatever your original goals/dreams, whether you've "made it" according to your original plan or not, I'd love to hear from you!

Cheers,
Mike
Click to expand...
:Drogar-Happy(DBG):
 
As an interactive multimedia developer, video (film) became a large part of what I do, so I guess it "just happened".
Although, I've played with filmmaking since high school film class, it's only in the last 4-5 years that I've been able
to start to focus on it.

The bulk of my 'real/professional' shooting is all talking heads, found footage edit, step-by-step procedures and scenarios used for educational purposes.

I'm still haunted by the 90 hours of footage I had to watch & edit of the Gary Ridgeway (Green River Killer) FBI interviews for a textbook
on Criminal Profiling. That guy is WACKED.... and for over 20 years he was just the 'guy next door' as he murdered & abused prostitutes (yes, necrophilia)!
 
i just kiss arse and beg and beg and plead. Please let me film something! please please please.

And every once in a while they say yes!
 
MikeFunktastic said:
Ha! That preview... you sure know how to dangle a yarn in front of the cat. And you said your story would be too long and boring.

View attachment 61326
Click to expand...
LOL, each story is going to be fairly long (I have an affliction.....a writer's affliction= diarrhea of the fingers sometimes, once I start I can't stop). The hard part is deciding which one first. And, sadly.....I have many more subjects to document. Already had some one ask if they could make it into a book. Really, a book? It's a blog, jeez, if I wanted that.....I'd do it myself.
 
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